With advances in wireless communication technology, the interest in wireless devices is growing. Particularly, the mobile multimedia (video and/or audio) streaming service is becoming more popular. The multimedia streaming service makes it is possible to receive audio/video multimedia data in real time other than to download through Internet and/or intranet. That is, the mobile user may play the multimedia stream in real time without downloading the entire file of the multimedia data.
However, the multimedia streaming service of the related art has been provided without consideration of a change in network state especially when the serving network is changed, i.e. when handover occurs, in the wireless communication environment. Recently, the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Adaptive Streaming service has been introduced in order to deliver contents efficiently.
The adaptive streaming service is the service in which the communication apparatus receives the data chunk of a playlist appropriate for its current network condition among a plurality of play lists encoded at different bandwidth speeds using HTTP.
In the case of the adaptive streaming service, it is difficult to estimate the network condition of the current communication apparatus for initial content playback. Typically, the communication apparatus starts receiving the data chunk at the lowest bandwidth speed or the highest bandwidth speed of the current network for the initial content playback. This is likely to cause the communication apparatus to receive and play the data at the bandwidth speed lower than its available bandwidth or incur a buffering error or a timeout error in initial adaptive streaming content playback.
Also, the adaptive streaming service of the related art estimates the bandwidth speed based on the history about the corresponding content after initial receipt of data chunk. Accordingly, if the serving network is changed due to movement of the mobile terminal, it is difficult to reflect the condition of the new network and thus difficult to select the best play list. This causes excessive buffering time and incurs a timeout error as in the initial playback and thus leads to a failure of best performance suitable for the changed bandwidth, resulting in user complaints.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved apparatus and method for preventing streaming content playback delay and error at the initial playback or caused by a change in network condition.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.